Gas-engine.



yD. K. HAU..

GAS ENGNE.

APPLmATxoN man AuG.8, 1914.

Patented 211x125, 19%..

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. D. K. HALL.

GAS ENGINE.

vAPFLICMION FILED AUG.8, 1914.

Lcwf -l Patented Apr. 25,1916.

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"untreu arianne ramena numbin- GAS-ENGINE.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr.. 25, 11913..

Application led August 8, 1914. Serial No. 855,733.

K To all whom t may-concern.'

Be it known that I, DWIGHT K. HALL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Montclair', in the county of Essex and State of New Jerusey,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gras-Engines, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to gas engines, and comprises a rotating partmadeup of a plurality of cylinders, each having a piston reciprocatingtherein and by their reciprocations rotating the rotary member.

One of the objects of theinvention is to provide an engine of the kind?described having great efficiency with the minimum number of operatingparts.

A further object of the invention is to provide in an apparatus of thekind described an explosion chamber which is adapted to be air cooledinside and out and completely scavenged after each explosion.

Another object of the invention is to provide an engine of the kinddescribed inl which there is a plurality of cylinders having a commonignition device, a common exhaust port and a common feed or fueliiijection.

Other objects and aims of the invention, more or less broad than thosestated above, together with the advantages inherent, will be in partobvious and in part specifically referred to in the course of thefollowing description of the elements, combinations,

arrangements'of parts, and applications of principles constituting theinvention; and thev scope of protection contemplated will appear fromthe claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which are to be taken as part ofthisspecication and in which I have showua form of embodiment of theinvention as atv present preferred, Figure 1 is ,a sectional View takenon the line 1-1 of Fig. 2, 'looking in the direction of the arrows,parts being shown in elevation and parts being broken away, and Fig. 2'is a sectionv on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction ofthe arrows, some of the parts being shown in elevation and some of theparts being broken away.

Referring to the numerals on the drawings, there is shown at 3 acircularband or casing, within which the rotary element rotates. Thiscircular casing 3 is provided with brackets 4 by which it may be securedin place upon a proper foundation or supwith this port. Tapped into theupper side of the circular casing 3, preferably about midway of itswidth, is a spark plug 5, which is illustrated as an example of ignitiondevice. The circular casing 3 is also provided withl an opening 6, fromwhich extends a pipe 7 that is connected to a gasolene vaporizer, orother fuel-supplying member 8, this member 3 having an opening'9extending through the circular casing 3. The casing 3 is also providedon its lower side with an elongated slot, which has the functions of,and will be hereinafter referred to as, an exhaust port. Extendingtransversely of, and through, the circular casing 3 there is a crankshaft provided with an eccentric portion 11, the said shaft is supported1n stationary bearings 12 and 14 arranged in opposite sides of thecasing. Connected stationaryl and eccentrically mounted shaft 11 are thepiston rods 15 of a series of cylinders 16. These cylinders 16, whichare open at both ends, are radially disposed within the circular casing3,`and

they have their inner ends connected by al web 17, while their outerends are connected by and open through a circular member or web 18,formed on substantially the arc of the inner circular face of the casing3. The effect is to make all the vseveral cylinders (eight being shownin the present instance) .a substantially unitary structure, which isadapted to rotate about the shaft 11, this unitary rotary structurerotating about the stationary bearing 14 at one side 4 of the casing andabout the stationary bearing 19 at the other'side of the casing, ballbearings or the like 20 and 21 being interposed as desired. l

Beyond the web 17 the several cylinders diverge radially, and the spacesbetween them are left open for the circulation of air, each cylinderbeing preferably provided with the usual radiating portions 22.- Also,

for cooling purposes and to further the scavenging -of the cylinders,each cylinder is provided at a certain point in its length with a seriesof ports 24, which. are so located that they will be uncovered when thepiston 25 is at the limit` of its innermost stroke, as shown in thelowermost one of the cylinders in Fig. 1. Each piston is pivotallyconnected,asshown at 26, w' h a piston rod 15, and these several pistonrods 15 have attheir inner ends integral ringsl shown in Fig. 2, one ofthe piston rods has y.simply one ring, this being the one in theiniddleof the row of fifteen rings appearing in Fig. 2; while all of theother piston l 5 rods have forked ends, each 'branch being formed. intoa. ring, and the branches ofthe forks of theseveral rods will bevariously spaced apart so that they may be' nested-in position on theshaft 11. The relations of .the parts are preferably about as shown, sothat. the uppermost` one of the cylinders 4shown in Fig'. l will haveits piston in the outermost or compression position, while -thelowermost one of the cylinders in Fig. l will haveV itscyliiider in theinnermost position,.and the cylinders between these two on either sideof the vertical diameter will bev in various intermediate positions. Itwill' be evident that when the rotary element made up of -the'severalcylinders 16, web 17 and web 18, is caused to rotate, the severalpistons will be caused to reciprocate in theirv cylinders' in a definiterelation.

The operation of the device is as follows:

.,215l Assuming the parts to be related as shown,

the cylinder shown at the top of Fig. 1 may be supposed. to contain aproper explosive mixture, and the piston in that cylinder is at the endof its outward or compression 80 stroke, so that the explosive mixtureis under compression, assuming that there is a gas tight fit between theend of the cylinder and j the inner face of the casing 3. Thiscompressed cliarge is ignited by means of the 35. spark ping `5, whichmay be continuously acting, and as theA explosion takes place the rotaryelement,.comprising the cylinders and webs that tie them together, movesto the right in Fig. l. This is because theorbital i0 path of leastresistance is to the right, since the cylinder next to the left of theuppermost cylinder in Fig. 1 has already received .a chargeofexplosivemixture and its piston is in a position in which the charge is under i5considerable compression. As stated, there- Afore, the whole rotaryelement moves to the right in Fig. lxand the cylinderwhich was explodedcontinues its travel until it reaches a position next to the right ofthe lowermost cylinder in Fig. 1, at which point the open 1 end of thecylinder communicates with the I outer air through the exhaust port 10.The cylinder continues until it reaches the position of the l'owermostcylinder in Fig. '1, at which-point the ports 24 are exposed and throughthese and'through the exhaust port 10 the interior of the cylinder maybe thorj oughly scavenged ,and cooled, centrifugal force'having, as Ibelieve, considerable to 4do with this result. From .this position,which y,corresponds to the outermost positien ofthe pistonythe cylindermoves along ytojbhe'l'eft and upwardly, thel piston gradually incitingbutward, .untilthe cylinder reachesy i5 resulten where its mouth is I`incation withthe fuelinjection port .9. When the particular cylinder is inthis position, the next adjacent cylinder, looking in a clockwisedirection, has its mouth in communication withthe port 6, and thisadjacent cylinder will already have received a charge from the port 9,which will have been considerably compressed by reason of the movinginward of its piston. Consequently, a part of the compressed charge inthis adjacent cylinder will travel through the pipe 7 to the member 8,to assist in injecting a charge into the cylinder which is in com-'munication with the port 9. This lastnamed cylinder, having nowreceived its charge, moves on to a position in which it is incommunication `with the port 6, where part of its compressed charge goesoif the use of any valves or injectors or timing devices; there is needfor only one ignition device, all of the cylinders exhaust through lacommon exhaust port, and receive their charges of fuel from a common andsingle source of supply.

Inasmuch as this is a rotary device the effect of centrifugal force willneed to be considered. In this connection attention is force, after acylinder has been charged with the explosive mixture of air and vapor,the vapor, which is the heaviest constituent of the mixture, will tendto fly toward the called to the fact that because of centrifugal mouthof the cylinder, and the richest part of the mixture will be at themouth, while the leaner part of the mixture will be inwardly of thecylinder. Consequently, when the cylinder comes around to the ignitionpoint the sparking points will be in the midst of the richest part ofthe mixture and ignition will, on that account, be the more certain,while at the same time the potential power of the mixture is in no wiseaffected. Centrifugal force also will tend to scavenge the cylinder whenthe latter is in communication with the exhaust part 10, andparticularly when in the further travel of the cylinder vthe ports 24:are exposed.

One possible objection to the device as hereinbefore described is thatsince the fit of the rotary element within the circular casing 3 must besnug, that in time the end of the cylinder wouldbe worn away and therewould no longer be a gas tight it between the mouth o'f the cylinder andthe surface of the circular casing. In' order to take care of thisobjection I have provided each cylinder with a' flange -30 surroundingthe mouth,

medusa 34. Each rod 35 is pivoted as at 36 to a rod` 37 which is pivotedon the flange 30, and which rod 37 carries at its outer end a weight 38.The consequence ot this arrangement is that by'proper adjustment-,of theweights 38 the sleeve 31 with its flange 34, which may be termed a shoe,will always be in the proper engagement --with the inner surface of thecircular casing 3, to insure a gas tight joint and to prevent unduefriction.

rl.`he rotation of the rotary member may be utilized in any propermanner. For instance, the reduced portion 40 of the webV 17 might beencircled by a gear secured thereto and power transmitted from thisgear. rl`his, however, is obviously immaterial.

Inasmuch as many changes could be made in the above construction, andmany apparently widely different embodiment voit my invention could bemade without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that alllmatter contained in the above description or ,shown inthe accompanyingdrawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitingsense. It is also to be understood that the language used in thefollowing claims is intended to Coverall the generic and specificteaturesof the invention herein described and all statements of thescope of the invention which, as a. matter of language,

vmight be said to fall therebetween.

open-ended cylinder traveling in an orbitaly path and having a port inits side wall, a piston adapted-.to cover the port except when at itslimit of inward movement, and a'circular casing defining said path andhaving an opening with which the open end of the cylinder is adapted toregister, while the port is uncovered.

2. ln a device of the character described, a cylinder moving in anorbital path and provided near its outer end with a flange and having amovable sleeve at its outer end, Aa weighted arm pivoted to the flangeon the cylinder..and connected to the sleeve constituting a means forbalancing the latter, and a circular casing defining the orbital pathor" the cylinder and with which 4the outer end of the sleeve makescontact. v

3. ln a device of the character described,

- a cylinder moving in an orbital path and provided near its mouth witha flange, a movable sleeve located within the mouth end of the cylinderand provided with an outstanding circular flange, a casing defining thepath of said cylinder, and a plurality of weighted members pivoted tothe cylinder flange and connected to the circular flange on the movablesleeve thereby counterbalanoing said sleeve at' all points et itscontactwith the circular casing.

In testimony whereof l affix my signature in presence of two witnesses,

. DWlGH'l K. HALL.

Witnesses:

MARY H. Lewis, CLAan'Ncn G. CAMPBELL.

